AN emotional funeral ceremony was due to be held today to say farewell to an inspirational 10-year-old who died suddenly on a flight to Dubai.Grieving family and friends of popular Ipswich schoolboy Jamil Rahman were preparing for a ceremony at Ipswich mosque and a burial at Ipswich cemetery this afternoon.

AN emotional funeral ceremony was due to be held today to say farewell to an inspirational 10-year-old who died suddenly on a flight to Dubai.

Grieving family and friends of popular Ipswich schoolboy Jamil Rahman were preparing for a ceremony at Ipswich mosque and a burial at Ipswich cemetery this afternoon.

Staff from Sidegate Primary School in Sidegate Lane were expected to join members of Ipswich's Muslim community at the ceremony.

Jamil died on April 3 just 30 minutes before the Biman Bangladesh Airways flight he was on was due to land in Dubai. He was with his mother Ruhela Begum, 25, his brother Jabir, 8, and his 18-month-old sister Summayyah. The family were on their way to see relatives in Bangladesh.

Jamil had reported feeling unwell during the flight but died before he reached medical help. It is not yet clear what caused his death.

Today's funeral was organised yesterday following the release of Jamil's body by doctors in London. His body had been taken there after an initial post mortem in Dubai is believed to have listed natural causes as the cause of death.

Under Muslim beliefs, a person's funeral should be held as soon as possible after their death.

Yesterday Jamil's father Malik Rahman, 30, of Shaftesbury Square, Ipswich, said: “All the Muslim community will be there and anyone who knew Jamil and wants to be at his burial will be there.”

Mr Rahman is a chef at the family restaurant, the Koh-i-Noor in Upper Orwell Street. He said he was planning future fundraising events in memory of his eldest son.

Today staff at Sidegate Primary said Jamil's death had had a huge impact on students at the school. Counselling had been offered and plans were in place to hold an event to remember Jamil.

A spokesman for the school said: “Everybody misses Jamil and our thoughts are with his family.

“Most of the children have coped fairly well but clearly it is a very emotional time.

“We will be marking Jamil's short but shining life in some way, after discussing it with his family.”

In later editions of yesterday's Evening Star a photograph of Jamil's brother Jabir appeared alongside a story about Jamil. We would like to apologise for this error and any distress caused.

Do you want to pay tribute to Jamil Rahman? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.